Intel's RealSense camera made me the star of 'Fallout 4'

Over the holidays, I've really been putting the hours into Fallout 4. So when Intel and Uraniom said that it'd be demonstrating its RealSense 3D camera to embed people into that vault suit, I knew what I had to do. Uraniom's tech includes machine learning, geometry processing and 3D game engineering to ensure anyone that plants themselves into games (including GTA, FIFA and Skyrim) gets suitably freaked the heck out by the fluid, not-too-out-of-place results. After getting scanned by a HP tablet with RealSense cameras, the data was transferred to a work PC, where one of Uraniom's guys added trackers around my eyes and and mouth. (My fluffy Tintin hair isn't usually well-suited to 3D scanning, but the results this time are still uncanny.) Less than a minute later, I was looking slender and radiation-free in my vault suit and soon I was equipped with a jetpack powersuit and flying around a devastated Boston.

Gallery: You're the new 'Fallout 4' hero at CES 2016 | 10 Photos

As the company points out, you'll need hardware with either the structure Sensor, or tablets with Intel RealSense R200 technology. (Update: or maybe you could preorder a phone...) In short, it's not a minor investment for the awesomeness of getting yourself inside your favorite game. But it'll certainly make you smile if you do.

Mat once failed an audition to be the Milkybar Kid, an advert creation that pushed white chocolate on gluttonous British children. Two decades later, having repressed that early rejection, he moved to Japan, learned the language, earned his black belt in Judo and returned to UK, and soon joined Engadget's European team. After a few years leading Engadget's coverage from Japan, reporting on high-tech toilets and robot restaurants as Senior Editor, he now heads up our UK bureau in London.